Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Transportation Policy

Welcome Elana Schor, Streetsblog’s New National Reporter

By Aaron Naparstek | May 15, 2009 | 12 Comments

As you may have noticed, we’ve got a new reporter here at Streetsblog, Elana Schor. Elana will be covering this year’s big federal transportation story down in Washington D.C. with an eye towards helping transit advocates and livable streets activists gain a better understanding of what has typically been a very inside-the-Beltway, highway-oriented process. If […]

We Need an Ambitious Transpo Bill. So How Are We Going to Pay for It?

By Yonah Freemark | Apr 29, 2009 | 18 Comments

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood testifying in the Senate yesterday. Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing about the future of national surface transportation. This much isn’t in doubt: Current policies need a major overhaul. What to change and, especially, how to pay for it are very much in question. Several […]

What’s Wrong With SAFETEA-LU — and Why the Next Bill Must Be Better

By Yonah Freemark | Apr 27, 2009 | 6 Comments

Editor’s note: This year’s reauthorization of the federal transportation funding bill will be one of the most important opportunities in history for the nation’s advocates of livable streets, sustainable transportation and smart growth. But it’s going to be a complicated process. We’d like to demystify it for you, and to that end we’ll be featuring […]

Is the Obama Administration Poised to Push Transit?

By Brad Aaron | Apr 24, 2009 | 4 Comments

While President Barack Obama promoted wind power and cap-and-trade legislation, VP Joe Biden spent Earth Day talking up transit. Public radio’s "The Takeaway" reports that Biden held a presser at a bus maintenance facility in Landover, Maryland, to tout a $300 million investment in hybrid buses and other municipal vehicles as part of the federal […]

New Video Series Tells the Story of Sprawl

By Brad Aaron | Apr 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

As livable streets advocates work to make headway in breaking the cycle of American auto dependence, the folks at Planetizen have put together a video narrative that explains how we got here. "The Story of Sprawl," a double DVD set produced by Managing Editor Tim Halbur, is a compilation of historical films dating from 1939 […]

Highlights from Today’s RPA Regional Assembly

By Ben Fried | Apr 17, 2009 | 7 Comments

The ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria is packed right now for the RPA’s 2009 Regional Assembly, where Richard Ravitch just accepted a lifetime achievement honor. Many luminaries from the worlds of transportation, planning, and politics are here, and I’ve got a few minutes to post some interesting exchanges from earlier in the day, so here […]

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